Introduction

With the rising costs of living across the United States, this report show that citizens are living paycheck to paycheck as a means of survivability. As of 2019, employment rates are statistically low in comparison to prior years but does not answer the question of why the majority still struggle with obtaining monetary safety nets. Our goal is to identify associations of consumer spending based on minimum wage values per state in order to address economic affordability based on mininum wage and life sustainability.

Aggregate Table

The dataset included 2750 rows, which is separated each year and state (including the US territories), starting from 1968 to 2017. It also included each minimum wage per hour from that timeline and the equivalency of that minimum wage in 2018. In the table below, it is group by state (includes US territories) while taking the average of each minium wage by century (from 1968 to 1999 follows under 1900s while from 2000 to 2017 follows under 2000s). The table reveals the wide gap changes of minimum wage across centuries and in between states/US territories; it shows how there are some states that pays above the federal minimum wage than other states and thereโ€™s some that has slight increase in their minimum wage a hundred years ago.

State Avg_High_1900s Avg_Low_1900s Avg_High_2000s Avg_Low_2000s
Alabama 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
Alaska 3.603125 3.603125 7.447222 7.447222
Arizona 0.165000 0.117000 4.719444 4.719444
Arkansas 2.639453 2.639453 6.113889 6.113889
California 3.095312 3.095312 7.736111 7.736111
Colorado 2.278125 2.192188 6.725556 6.725556
Connecticut 3.185313 3.175937 7.866667 7.866667
Delaware 2.693750 2.693750 6.944444 6.944444
District of Columbia 3.715625 2.972187 7.883333 7.883333
Federal (FLSA) 3.103125 3.046875 6.200000 6.200000
Florida 0.000000 0.000000 4.953333 4.953333
Georgia 1.843125 1.843125 4.938889 4.938889
Guam 3.118750 3.118750 6.327778 6.327778
Hawaii 3.160938 3.160938 6.958333 6.958333
Idaho 2.575000 2.575000 6.200000 6.200000
Illinois 2.487500 2.487500 7.033333 7.033333
Indiana 2.115625 2.115625 6.200000 6.200000
Iowa 1.329687 1.329687 6.316667 6.316667
Kansas 1.345312 1.345312 4.694444 4.694444
Kentucky 2.432812 2.407812 6.200000 6.200000
Louisiana 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
Maine 3.145313 3.095312 6.883333 6.883333
Maryland 3.056250 3.037500 6.494444 6.494444
Massachusetts 3.167187 3.167187 7.777778 7.777778
Michigan 2.851562 2.851562 6.713889 6.713889
Minnesota 2.932812 2.775000 6.450000 5.563889
Mississippi 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
Missouri 1.253125 1.253125 6.436111 6.436111
Montana 2.498438 2.498438 6.530556 4.897222
Nebraska 2.387500 2.387500 6.436111 6.436111
Nevada 2.915625 2.906250 6.704444 6.243333
New Hampshire 3.110937 3.092188 6.275000 6.275000
New Jersey 3.128125 3.128125 6.719444 6.719444
New Mexico 2.789062 2.717188 6.200000 6.200000
New York 3.062500 3.062500 6.861111 6.861111
North Carolina 2.817188 2.817188 6.272222 6.272222
North Dakota 2.943750 2.700000 6.200000 6.200000
Ohio 2.506250 2.381250 6.302778 5.605556
Oklahoma 2.839062 2.839062 6.200000 2.000000
Oregon 3.120312 3.120312 8.047222 8.047222
Pennsylvania 3.046875 3.046875 6.366667 6.366667
Puerto Rico 3.065625 0.993750 6.025000 4.290556
Rhode Island 3.045313 3.045313 7.372222 7.372222
South Carolina 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
South Dakota 2.553125 2.548437 6.419444 6.419444
Tennessee 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000
Texas 1.956250 1.956250 6.000000 6.000000
U.S. Virgin Islands NA NA 6.055556 4.300000
Utah 2.742188 2.596875 6.200000 6.200000
Vermont 3.140625 3.140625 7.751111 7.751111
Virginia 2.342188 2.342188 6.200000 6.200000
Washington 2.754688 2.745312 8.251667 8.251667
West Virginia 2.685938 2.685938 6.525000 6.525000
Wisconsin 2.968750 2.968750 6.338889 6.338889
Wyoming 1.543750 1.543750 4.755556 4.755556

Comparing Washington State and New York

Over the past 17 years, cities such as Seattle and New York have progressively increased in population size. This is detrimental, as higher populations leads to increased demands of consumer goods and services which in turn means both states must sustain the higher cost of living by providing individuals with higher wages. This chart shows that example, as increases in the consumer price index, minimum wage scales in a upward trend allowing for sustainable livability.

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